The Roomates: The Story of Desmond and Thomas
by Warlord Darnell
Summary: OC. Desmond Kingston has been dissatisfied with his current living situation. So, moving out, he answers a want ad by Thomas Anderson. Moving in, he finds that roommates make good friends. Note: This is before Neo takes the Red Pill. Prequel to The Matrix: A Mind Set Free.  Dedicated to Genius-626.
1. A New Roommate?

_**I love Rock 'n Roll, so put another dime in the Jukebox Baby! That being said, you know who else likes rock 'n roll? Why none other than my Matrix OC, Desmond Kingston.**_

_**That being said, this idea came to me a while back. I figured that we could all use a prequel and perhaps an explanation of his back story. That being said, here's a fic I think fans of my OC will enjoy.**_

_**So please, review when you're done…**_

**Chapter 1: A New Roommate?**

**Desmond**

He woke up this morning, rolling off of the bed in his room on the flat. He hoped to be able to get to the shower first.

His sister and flat-mate, Desdemona would use all of the hot water whenever she took a shower in the morning.

He tiptoed out of the hallway, and bolted to the corner of the hall, where the bathroom was.

Turning the corner, he saw a disappointing sight. Once again, the door was shut, and as usual, he could hear Desdemona's terrible singing and the water running from the other side of the door.

"Not this again!" he yelled. Once again, as usual, his long hair fell down in front of his eyes.

"I'll be right out once I'm done." Desdemona yelled.

"Forget about it." Desmond sighed.

He made his way to the kitchen, and got a soda out of the fridge. He then looked at the newspaper, looking through the want ads.

**Roommate Wanted: **

**Able to keep secrets, isn't very messy.**

**Doesn't mind computers,**

**Rent $500 a month split**

**Thomas Anderson  
>204 Remington Drive, Apartment 6A<strong>

This sounded perfect. These were very good terms for a roommate. He could easily pay that half of the rent with his job at the record company.

"Hey Desda!" he yelled "You're going to have to look for a new flatmate, I'm moving out now."

"Alright bro!" she sang terribly from the bathroom "I'll be sure to help you pack."

He grinned. He figured he could easily get dressed. He didn't mind the shower. He'd already taken one last night just in case this happened.

With that, he put on his 1988 Boston Tour t-shirt, his button down Hawaiian shirt, and finally his best pair of jeans.

"I'm taking my car." He announced to Desdemona "You're going to have to take the bus to work again."

"Alright." She sang, her voice breaking "I'll be sure to take the bus."

"Ouch." He whispered. "Why does she have to sing when she isn't very good."

With that, he went down the elevator, and to his car, which he had parked outside.

He started it up, and began to drive, hoping to find 204 Remington Drive.

He remembered that it was near the Carl's Junior.

He found it pretty easily.

The building was very non-descript, looking partially run down. Next to it on the right was a Chinese buffet, and on the left, was a copy shop.

"This looks like the place." Desmond sighed.

He parallel parked the car, and got out. He walked up to the door of the building.

It was one of those more public buildings, that didn't require one being buzzed in. You could open the door with ease.

"Apartment six-A." Desmond muttered, looking in the directory. It was on the second floor.

He looked for the elevator.

Seeing that there was none, he realized he would have to climb the stairs. That immediately became one of the things that would have deterred a lesser man.

However, Desmond didn't mind, taking the two flights of stairs to the second floor.

He looked at the other doors. The even-numbered apartments were on the left. He realized that this was "A" floor.

He then figured that six would be the third door. He immediately found it.

He used the knocker, and waited.

"Hello?" he asked, knocking with his fist "Anyone home."

"Just a minute." A voice replied from the other end.

There was the sound of quite a few latches being manipulated, before the doorjamb.

The door was opened to reveal a tall, pale, and thin man with black hair and what seemed to be a bit of Asian eyes.

"I'm here about your ad in the paper." Desmond answered. "Are you Tom?"

"Yeah." The man replied. "Come in."

Desmond followed Tom into the house.

"Take a seat." He replied, motioning to a round dinner table with only two chairs. The rest of the apartment was rather empty, save for a desk with quite a few computers at it.

There were a few lamps, but otherwise, that was it.

"Would you like something to drink?" Tom asked.

"Yes please." Desmond answered. "You wouldn't happen to have any Mountain Dew by any chance."

"I actually bought a case last week." Tom replied, going into the rather crappy refrigerator and withdrawing two cans. Tom went over to the table, and sat across from Desmond with the soda, sliding it across the table.

"Thanks." Desmond sighed, opening the can and taking a sip.

"I would offer you ice." Tom replied "However, the ice trays aren't ready yet."

"That's okay." Desmond sighed "I prefer the soda straight out of the can, even at room temperature. Ice just takes up space in the cup."

"Yeah." Tom sighed "I think so too." He paused "What's your name?"

"Desmond." He replied "You can just call me Des though. That's what everyone else does."

"Des," Tom repeated "I like that. Now what do you do exactly?"

"I work at a record store." Desmond answered "That's my day job though. At nights, I perform with my band, Renegade."

"What do you play?" Tom asked.  
>"I sing lead," Des replied, grinning "I also play keys, lead guitar, and keytar."<p>

"You actually play the keytar?" Tom sighed, chuckling "I don't know anybody who still plays that."

"Well," he sighed "We play covers. I'll play a bit of it when it's needed."

"Where do you rehearse?" Tom asked, "Are you going to bring the band here?"

"Actually, no." Des replied "We practice over at the drummer's house. Everyone else brings their own instruments, but the drummer keeps his kit there."

"Am I going to hear loud music all of the time?" Tom asked. "I know record store people like to play a lot of music."

"We do." Des admitted "However, I have headphones. I even have a splitter if you're interested in what I'm listening to. I've got my collection on vinyl, cassette, and CD. One of each for everything."

"Do you mind computers?" Tom asked "That's the big question. Am I going to have you always on it?"

"Well," Des sighed "I just know how to write all of my lyrics up in Word, check my E-mail, and perhaps make an album cover. That's pretty much it."

"Alright." Tom replied, smiling a bit "When can you move in?"

"I'll be able to have my stuff here tomorrow if I can get a hand." Des admitted "Do you think you can give me one?"

"You know." Tom suggested "You can hire some movers. This one company; Two Guys And A Truck, they're really cheap."

"I'll be sure to look them up." Des replied "Thanks for the soda."

"You're welcome." Tom replied "I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, Tom made his way back to the car. He had just found the perfect place to move into.


	2. Moving InOut

_**I admit, I'm not very faithful to my stories. And I feel terrible for it. However, this is a lucky break. It's a chance that I have to update a really good story. I think you'll enjoy this next chapter. So I give you, the story goodness you've been waiting for. Please leave me a review when you're done.**_

**Chapter 2: Moving Out/In**

**Desmond**

He worked like crazy to pack everything. He already got stuff like his clothes, and books in boxes. Currently, he was working on getting his music collection packed. He knew he would have to have the vinyl LPs in their own box, his tapes in another, and finally a couple of boxes just for his CDs.

"You need any help packing?" Desdemona asked, walking into the room. As usual, she had on exercise clothes, her version of lazy outfits.  
>He was still in the outfit he wore over to Tom's house. It was crazy.<p>

"I could use a bit of help with my Tapes and CDs." He admitted. "I'd like to have everything by tomorrow for when the movers come."

"Still can't believe you're moving out." She sighed, taking a box and going through his cassettes.

"You don't have to organize them." He replied, seeing her sort through them. "You just have to make sure you can fit as many as possible."

"Alright." She grumbled.

He went to his shelf and took the vinyl records down, stacking them into the box.

**xXx**

He had finally finished all of the packing. For his music, and for his VHS tapes. He felt satisfied for a brief moment. Then he realized that there was still the bigger stuff. And he also had to disassemble his music station.

"I'm hungry." Desdemona sighed, turning away from the box she packed "I'm gonna make a snack. You want anything?"

"Perhaps some of the Mountain Dew?" he asked "I'm thirsty."

"Alright" she replied, exiting the room.

He turned his attention to his music station. He knew that to disassemble would take a bit of time. He figured the first place to start was to unplug the various devices that made up it.

His music station was made up of separate devices, such as the speaker controls, his turntable, the Cassette player and recorder, the CD player, the radio, the speakers, and of course, the display case where he put nothing in, but just had it empty.

One by one, he unplugged all of the cords connected to everything, and proceeded to remove everything from the shelf components.

This took about an hour. However, there was something that didn't seem quite right. He thought he asked Desdemona for something.

"Desda?" he tried, calling out into the hall.

No response, except for the sound of the TV.

He sighed, figuring he might as well see what it was. Standing up, he made his way out to the hall.

There, in the living room, watching, no; staring at the TV was his sister, just staring at it. At least she was seated this time on the couch.

"Desda?" he tried, snapping his fingers in front of her eyes.

She snapped out of it, jumping at least three feet.

"Good God," she cried "You shouldn't sneak up on me like that."

"Weren't you going to get a snack?" he asked, confused.

"I was?" she asked, confused "Oh yeah, I was going to get a snack. However, I flipped on the TV and saw something on, and so I decided to watch it."

He face-palmed, complete disbelief. He swore, she had such a short attention span. He hated that.

"I'll just get my own soda." He sighed, going into the pantry and fishing a can of Mountain Dew out of the box.

Opening it, he looked at her. As much as he loved his sister, she was so annoying. All of her habits, the nasally voice, the short attention span. And that wasn't anything compared to her need to "Soup Up" the computer every month. Even though it was technically his, she always was working on it, trying to upgrade everything.

He was so glad that he was finally moving out. He figured that he had a good chance to only see her during the holidays. At least, as long as she and Tom never met.

With that, he proceeded to disassemble his futon.

**xXx**

As it seemed to do every day, the sun set and rose again. He finally had everything packed. Almost everything.

Since he spent the night on his bedroom floor in his sleeping bag, and there was still the pile of boxes, couch, furniture, and of course, the TV. He remembered that the movers were supposed to be here at 9.

He glanced at his watch. **8:45**

He jumped, immediately rushing to get dressed, and put away his sleeping bag and fresh laundry.

In just under ten minutes, he had a backpack full of everything else that didn't go in a box.

He heard a knock at his apartment door.

"I'll get it!" he called.

Desdemona returned with "Okay. I'm in the shower!", singing terribly.

He winced when her voice cracked at the end of the sentence, a terrible attempt to hit a high note.

He opened the door, and saw the movers. One was an Asian man, with a tattoo on his face of a dragon. The other was a tall Hispanic man, who looked like he worked out in his free time.

"You must be Andy and Jose." Desmond replied. "All of the small stuff's in boxes. The TV, couch, and the other stuff are still where I said."

"That's good." Andy replied "I was beginning to think we had the wrong address. Glad we got it right on the third time."

With that, they entered, and proceeded to lift and carry everything out. He was kind of glad that there wasn't an elevator, seeing as they would need the practice with stairs during the unloading part.

**xXx**

Right after they'd carried the last of the boxes, he figured he'd do something nice for them.

"You guys want something to drink?" he offered to them as they went back upstairs.

"Thanks." They replied.

"What do you want," he asked "We've got Coke, Sprite, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, tea, lemonade, milk, water…"

"Gatorade sounds nice." Jose replied.

"I think I'll have a Coke." Andy answered.

Desmond proceeded to withdraw a bottle of Gatorade and a Coke can from the fridge, and handed them to the movers respectively.

"I just need to call Tom up and tell him we're on our way." He announced, going for the phone.

He entered the digits of his future residence into the machine, and listened for Tom to answer.

"Hello." A voice asked on the other end.

"Hey Tom." Desmond replied "I'm just calling to let you know we're on our way. We'll be there in about ten minutes."

"Alright." Tom sighed "I'll leave the door unlocked."

"Thanks." He replied "I'll see you then."

"See you." Tom replied, hanging up.

"We're ready to go man." Jose replied "You got what you need?"

"Yeah." Desmond sighed, picking up his backpack.

"We'll follow you to the place." Andy commented.

Desmond grabbed the car keys, and made his way downstairs with the two movers following behind him.

He had to admit, though the place here seemed much better in terms of space and all, the fact that Desdemona was living there sure made things not worth it.

He smiled as he entered his car, and started it up.

He watched the movers enter their van, and listened as they started it up.

With that, they pulled out of parallel park, and made their way up the street.

**xXx**

**Tom**

He sighed as he made his way back to the computer. He had to admit, the feel-out run was good. He was a step closer to finding the access screen to Citibank's account management.

He wasn't the type to do mass theft from everyone. That stuff wasn't worth it, too easy to get caught. However, there was the idea of screwing around with it.

He got out of the window on the computer, and put it on standby.

**Desmond**

He arrived at 204 Remington Drive. They both parallel parked up front.

"Alright boys." He announced, getting out and shutting his car door. "Apartment 6A is where it's at."

"Got it." Andy replied.

He watched both men open the trailer to th4e van, and lower the loading ramp.

"I'm gonna let Tom know we're here." Desmond announced "Just give me one minute." He made his way to the front door of the apartment building, and quickly found the stairs.

Climbing each one, he found the first floor, and then Apartment 6A.

"Tom?" he tried, knocking on the door.

**Tom**

He was getting out of the bathroom when he heard a knock on the door. He figured it was Desmond, or the police.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"It's me, Des." The person on the other end replied.

**Desmond**

He figured that Tom was probably in the john, seeing as it was taking a little while.

"I brought all of my stuff with the movers." He added "They're already starting to unload everything."

There was the sound of locks being manipulated, before the door creaked open.

"I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost or something." Tom explained.  
>"Can you leave the door open for them?" he asked "The movers are already working on bringing up the couch."<br>"You have a couch?" Tom asked, sounding very surprised.  
>"Yeah." He replied "I bought it when I moved in where I just was. However, I can already tell my old flatmate will be pissed that I took the couch." He paused "That, and the TV."<p>

Tom laughed "I see someone was the big spender back home."

"Well," he replied "I think that certain things are essential. Plus, I saw how you have neither of those things."

"yeah." Tom sighed "I had been meaning to purchase a TV for myself. My last flatmate got both the couch and the TV when he moved out."

"I'll go show them the way to the apartment." Desmond replied "Just wait here."

"Alright." Tom sighed.

**xXx**

With everything major having been moved in, and the boxes set down, Desmond paid the movers, thanked them, and watched them leave.

"You've sure got a lot of stuff." Tom replied, looking into the box with the VHS tapes. "Let's see," he commented, pulling out a tape "You've got _Boston, Don't Look Back Tour '79_, _Styx, Kilroy Was Here Tour_, _38 Special Wild Eyed Southern Boys Tour _Sure have a lot of concert tapes."

"Yeah." Desmond sighed "I'm a bit of a music nut."

"Well, need any help putting your futon together?" Tom asked, spotting the box of futon components.

"That would help actually." Des sighed "I'll get the mattress in there, you can carry the parts."

"Alright." Tom sighed, putting down _Heart Dreamboat Annie Tour_

Desmond pushed the mattress up and tried to drag it in, while Tom simply picked up and carried the box containing the futon metal parts.  
>"I think I'll get the sideboards." Desmond replied, giving up on the mattress. He went to the box and picked up both identical wooden sides.<p>

"So how exactly is a record store employee still sleeping on a futon?" Tom asked "I imagine you guys make tons of money picking out music for people."

"Well" Des sighed "I like the sleep I get on it, and the record store pays me just fine. You'd be surprised at my true wage."

"So where do we begin with this?" Tom asked, taking all of the parts out of the box.

"Well," Desmond began, before giving instructions on where everything went and helping Tom put it together. Within less than 45 minutes, they had managed to assemble the entire frame, with only the mattress missing.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Desmond sighed, standing next to Tom and admiring their handiwork.

"Let's put the mattress on man." Tom replied "You take the front side, I'll take the back."

"Alright."

They proceeded to lift and carry the flexible mattress over to the futon frame, setting it down on the metal bars.

"That is good." Desmond announced, making a dusting off motion with his hands.

"Need any help with the rest of your stuff?" Tom inquired.

"Not really man." Desmond sighed "I took the day off of work tomorrow to unpack everything."

"You took a day off for Labor Day?" Tom asked "A national no-work holiday. You realize you should get that day off."

"Not at the record store." Des sighed "We usually have our Labor Day Sale then. I don't mind since I don't earn a commission. I simply work hours there."

"Still sounds like a great place to work." Tom sighed, taking a seat on the Futon "I work for this new company called Adobe. They're paying us to develop certain items for their software suite."

"My sister would love a job like that." Des sighed, joining him "However, she's currently working for this new company called MetaCortex. She's basically developing software all day in a cubicle farm. I personally could never work in one."

"Thus the record store?" Tom asked.

"That," he replied "And the fact that I only have a High School Diploma. I got the job at the record store since my second cousins own it, and I've been working there since I started high school. It's how I paid for my instruments."

"I don't work at a cubicle farm." Tom replied "I work from home. I get paid to have the beta by a certain deadline. However, working at home gives me certain liberties not found elsewhere."

"Like what?" Desmond asked, curious.

"I can set my own hours. I can watch TV while I work now." Tom replied "I personally think this job's like riding the gravy train. It's easy to get good money."

"That's good." Desmond sighed "I get paid to find people some new music, and take inventory after we close. I work the first shift, the daytime shift. I have nights off though."

"I've been wondering if you guys get discounts on all of your music." Tom asked "Because I had a neighbor who worked at one, and he always had some new music to blare."

"Depends on the store." Desmond replied "I do."

"Well," Tom sighed, standing up "Is there anything you want for dinner?"

"Whatever you plan on cooking," Desmond answered "I don't really mind."

"I was just going to order a pizza." Tom sighed, grinning "I usually just get pepperoni on it."

"I'm fine with that." Desmond replied "I like it with that and extra cheese though."

"You just read my mind." Tom chuckled "I'll go call Pizza Hut."

**xXx**

When the pizza arrived, Des was currently putting his music center back together. He'd just assembled the shelf component, and was putting the various devices to it on.

"Thank you." Tom's voice echoed through the apartment.

"Was that the pizza guy?" Desmond asked, hearing the door close.

"If it wasn't" Tom joked "Then I just paid for someone else's pizza."

"I've got to say," Desmond replied, taking a seat at the table "you can easily start listening to music while you work. I've been wondering what you'd like."

"What do you think I'd like?" the man asked, withdrawing a slice of pizza from the box.

"I don't know yet." Desmond admitted "I have a few mixes that I have made for when I am in the mood for anything. I think I'll loan you one of those cassettes."

"Sounds good." Tom replied, mouth full of pizza "I think I'll be sure to listen to it."

"I've got a walkman you can borrow." Desmond recommended "You're welcome to it."

"Thanks, but I have my own." Tom admitted "I think I'll listen to some of that."

"I'll be sure to find the mix." Desmond replied.


	3. Work

_**I'm back. They may have taken my laptop, but they have not taken my will to write. So please, take a look, and review…**_

**Chapter 3: Work**

**Desmond**

He woke up on the Tuesday after Labor Day to a rather unusual smell. It was that of bacon. Hickory-smoked bacon was being fried in pizza grease, and the very smell of it was making his mouth water.

He got off his futon, and slipped on his robe. Tying it up, he stepped into the kitchen.

There, standing at the stove, was Tom. He currently had a pack of frozen bacon on the counter, half of it gone, with a plate full of bacon strips on a plate.

"Good morning" Tom greeted "did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah" Desmond sighed "What's with the bacon?"

"It's to celebrate" Tom explained "I have just finished the beta of Adobe Premiere 2.0"

"What's that?" Desmond asked, taking a strip of bacon and biting into it.

"It's a non-linear video editing system" he replied "It's designed to be able to make some professional-looking videos. You'd really like the program I have to develop next"

"What would that be?" Desmond asked "A program to download digital copies of music?"

"Even better" Tom answered "Adobe Photoshop 2.0"

"What's that?" Desmond asked, unfamiliar with the names.

"Adobe Photoshop is a full-featured image editing program" Tom explained "A lot of people use it to make book covers, album art, movie posters, magazines, in addition to photo retouching"

"Sounds interesting" Desmond replied, tucking into the bacon "I personally think that a good album cover would be drawn though. No offense to computers, but that's how some of the best album art has been made"

"You should be able to upload an outline copy" Tom went on to explain "And color it in through Photoshop. You could even make a vector of it through its sister program Adobe Illustrator"

"Interesting" Desmond commented "You'll have to teach them to me some time." He looked at the clock: **7:30 AM**.

"I have to get ready for work" he replied "The store opens at 9."

"Which record store do you work at?" Tom asked.

"I work at Diamond Street Records" Desmond explained "It's actually not very far from here. In fact…" he pulled out a map from a drawer "I could actually walk from here to there now."

"You couldn't from your last house?" Tom asked.

"I could" he replied "I'd be extremely late though."

"Well" Tom replied "I'll still be here. Some people from Adobe are coming to check out the beta of the software"

"Alright" Desmond replied "Do you want me to stay out?"

"I was hoping you could run down to the liquor store for me actually" Tom explained "We're hoping to celebrate with a bottle of champagne."

"Alright" Desmond replied "When do you need it by?"

"About six, so that it'll be chilled by seven"

"Got it" He replied "I'll go take a shower and get ready if you don't mind."

"Hang on" Tom exclaimed "Let me wash the pan first. The apartment's plumbing doesn't work too well when two people use the water at once."

"Alright" Desmond sighed.

Tom was about to put the pan in the sink and run water when he stopped.

"I think I'll let you shower first" Tom explained "Just let me know when you're done."

"Alright" Desmond sighed "I'll let you know"

**xxXxxxXxx**

When he was done, he gave a shout to Tom, and stepped out of the bathroom and into his room. Going through his dresser, he got dressed, putting on the usual denim jeans, the Boston '77 tour T-Shirt, and his Diamond Street Records vest. He slipped on his nametag lanyard, and exited the room.

He saw Tom washing the frying pan as he made his way into the kitchen. The amazing thing was the fact that the apartment's water wasn't that good.

Then again, thinking about his last living arrangement, this one won out by a long shot. The fact that he didn't have his sister taking two-hour long showers sure beat having no other water on.

He picked up his Discman and Headphones from the table, grabbed his travel case of CDs, the small one that he could keep attached to a belt loop, and walked out the door. He checked his pockets, realizing something important.

He'd forgotten his wallet and keys.

He tried the door, which seemed to be locked.

"Tom" he replied in a slightly raised voice, knocking on the door.

**Tom/Neo**

He heard Desmond knock on the door and call his name.

He looked, and there in the bowl, were Des' wallet and keys.

He turned off the water from the sink, and walked over to the door, scooping up the wallet and keys in his left hand, and opening the door with the right.

**Desmond**

He smiled when he saw Tom open the door, with his wallet and keys in hand.

"Thanks man" the record store employee replied "You are a life saver"

"Hopefully you won't forget them again though" Tom sighed "It's a good thing that I was here."

"I've got to get to work" Desmond replied "I'll be back around lunch time though."

"Alright" Tom replied "Just knock before you enter."

"Will do" Desmond replied.

With that, he left, making his way down the stairs and into the lobby, before heading down the street, walking to work.

**Tom/Neo **

With that, he shut the door, and sighed. It sure would be nice to have some alone time. He'd wanted to mess around with Citibank for a while now. It was always grounding to be able to hack, and with a roommate constantly away, it would be some well needed alone time.

He remembered the day he'd started hacking. It was back during college, when the school intranet began being run through all of the campus. As an accident, he'd gotten in to a professor's account rather than his. Already in the gradebook, he noticed the professor had given him an "F" on a software program he'd made as a project.

Professor Rosenblatt had always been unpopular, and people thought the software he'd made as a project was good and deserved an "A".

With a simple three clicks of a mouse, he'd turned the grade to a "B", hoping to be modest and not too ambitious.

When he closed the window and logged off the professor's account, he felt a high unlike any other. There was literally no sensation to compare with it, and before he knew it, he'd broken into every account on the campus intranet.

The alias "Neo" came after he'd graduated, when his PC had received an Internet connection, and he'd started breaking into some rather high profile accounts.

Currently, he'd been having some slight difficulty with Citibank. The account management passwords had been changed over the weekend.

This would take a while.

**Desmond**

At the record store, he sighed as he walked through the door. The place still had shelves full of just music, with a back wall displaying several varieties of Walkman, Discman, Headphones, and various posters of album covers and artists.

He smiled at Joan, his second cousin, who always ran the cash register. She was tall, thin, and always had her brown hair in a ponytail. In addition, she was smacking on gum and listening to some jazz on her Walkman, usually playing from a mix-tape.

Desmond put his headphones on, slipped Fleetwood Mac** Rumours** into his Discman, and started to walk around.

It wasn't long until a customer came in. She looked to be about in her fifties, yet the cane she walked with seemed to make Desmond think otherwise.

He put his headphones on around his neck, where he could still hear the music, yet be able to pay attention to her.

"Welcome to Diamond Street Records" he greeted "Is there any way I can help you ma'am?"

"Would you happen to have any Elvis tapes," she asked "I was planning on going to The Grand Canyon with my husband, and I was hoping we could listen to Elvis in our car, seeing as it has one of those Tape Players in the dash board."

"Sure" he replied. He'd gotten this type of customer all of the time, this was nothing new. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you where all of the Elvis tapes are"

He led her to the middle section of the store, and into the aisle labeled **Classics**

It was only a couple of steps before he showed her to where they kept all of the Elvis albums.

"They're all along this shelf" he explained, motioning to the three columns of Elvis Presley albums. "Just let me know when you're ready and I'll ring everything up for you"

"Thank you so much young man" she replied "I can't wait to play these on the trip."

"In fact" he replied "We've got a special sale going on. If you buy five cassette tapes, we'll throw in a poster for half off, and if you buy seven, it's an extra twenty-five percent off."

"Really?" she asked "I'll be sure to see what you've got. Hopefully you have some nice Elvis Posters."

"I guarantee you we've got quite the variety in the posters we offer." He replied "We carry posters on practically everything."

There was a chime at the door. Looking out of his peripheral vision, he could see a group of students and a teacher walk in.

It then hit him. Baker Street High School's music appreciation class was coming here for a field trip. He knew that this was a ton of customers he couldn't pass up. He checked his watch: **9:30**.

This was going to be a busy day.

**xxXxxXxx**

When 12:00 finally rolled around, he couldn't be happier. He'd made over 70 sales, totaling over 120 combined tapes, CDs, Vinyl LPs and EPs.

He was glad when his lunch break came. He was so happy that he could head back to the apartment and grab lunch. Hopefully Tom left some bacon for him.

Taking the left to cross Jefferson Street, walking down under the Adams Street Bridge, crossing Jersey Boulevard, and finally, heading on to Remington Drive, he made his way into the building, up the stairs, and to his apartment.

He knocked on the door, announcing "I'm here," unlocked the door, and proceeded to enter.

Inside, he saw an incredible sight, one that he was unsure he could believe. It was just that incredible.

There, across the monitor, at Tom's Computer, was the spread of the many files that made up the accounts at Citibank. Looking ahead, it appeared that a program was scrambling everything.

This was clearly a monitor sight that belonged to a hacker. In the chair at the desk, was Tom, clearly and casually checking everything.

"What's going on?" Desmond asked "Why is a program scrambling account info for Citibank?"

_**Uh-Oh, looks like Tom or "Neo" has been found out. What do you think will happen next? Click the large button below to tell me what is running through your mind…**_


	4. You're a

_**Sorry about the wait for the update; it was simply from lack of traffic and apparent notice. I had updated twice after without getting a single review; and the lack of apparent stats made the update even more discouraging.**_

_**However, it also gave me plenty of time to figure out further how to execute my plan. I know I left you on a cliff-hanger last time; and so that leaves a very specific way that I'd have to pick up.**_

_**However, enjoy, and please, for the sake of the story; review…**_

**Chapter 4: You're a…**

**Desmond**

"What's going on?" Desmond asked "Why is there a program scrambling account info for Citibank?"

Tom froze at this, almost as if he was thinking for a moment.  
>Desmond wasn't dumb, he knew that Tom wasn't a Citibank employee, and even then; that scrambling info was something only hackers did.<p>

He was simply waiting for Tom to explain himself.

"I," Tom admitted, stuttering "am, a, hacker"

"Wow," Desmond sighed "I never knew that about you."

"It all started in college when I accidentally got into a professor's account" Tom explained "I had been trying to get into mine, and my professor's last name was also Anderson, yet his first name was Ted. Our college intranet e-mail accounts were based on last and first names. As it turned out, we used the same password. I had gotten a bad grade on a project I was really proud of, and decided to change it to a 'b'."

Tom paused "After I had finished, I logged out, and experienced the greatest high I'd ever felt. I ended up doing more cyber-pranks in college than the fraternities did live ones in their entire existence."

A pause once again

"Later, after graduation, I got a computer with Internet, a new thing at the time. I ended up being addicted to hacking, and started doing real stuff. After my first hack, I took on the alias Neo"

"Wow," Desmond repeated, taking a seat in the chair that was out "you're a hacker"

"Is there any way you can not tell anyone?" Tom asked "I've done some pretty big stuff that would land me some serious jailtime."

Desmond simply took a moment to let it all sink in. Knowing hacker's wasn't anything new; he started out life in the same place at the same time with one.

If anything, the fact that he knew another hacker simply had no effect. Desdemona had been a hacker since college, and went by the alias of "Angel".

However, Desdemona stole money from companies, and transferred the stolen funds to charities. She used her skills to help people.

Tom, or "Neo" used his skills for fun and personal amusement.  
>The fact made sense why he worked from home in Chicago, and not in Silicon Valley with the rest of the company.<p>

"I'll keep your secret safe" Desmond replied "I guess that's why you asked for a roommate to be able to keep secrets"

"So you're not mad?" Tom asked.

"Not at all, Neo" Desmond joked "Is there any way I can call you that?"

"In private and face-to-face" Tom/Neo replied "I don't want people to really know that I'm the hacker Neo."

"Well," Des sighed "is there any way we can get lunch"

"I made some microwave raman about ten minutes ago" Tom replied "You're welcome to it. It's still in the microwave."

"Thanks man," Desmond replied, going into the microwave, seeing the bowl still in, steaming hot and everything.

He took the package out of the microwave, got a fork out of the silverware drawer, (Plastic and reused; Tom owned no true silverware) and began to eat.

"So how has your day been so far?" Tom asked, "Sell anything?"

"Baker Street High School's Music Appreciation Class came in today" Des began "The class amounted to a bigger sale in cassette tapes and CDs for us than Labor Day did." He took a spoonful of raman and put it in his mouth, before chewing and swallowing "Teenagers really love their music"

"Don't I remember" Tom replied, still at the computer, logging out of Citibank.

"So how is it that you're an employee for Adobe?" Desmond asked "I heard they're super tight on everything; people are rarely hired by them."

"The dean was the founder's cousin" Tom replied "He hooked me up with a job, as repayment for a favor."

"And what was that?" Desmond inquired.

"He had me clear out some rather embarrassing personal records" Tom explained "Three hours clearing a hard drive and disassembling it, ten hours shredding incriminating hard copies." Tom paused "One hour setting up one of the best job interviews I've ever had."

"So that's how you got hired." Desmond replied "I had an idea that you did some favors."

"How did you get hired by Diamond Street?" Tom asked.

"The owner's are my second cousins." Desmond explained "They initially started the business when I was in high school. I've always worked for them. They paid for all of my instruments, and said that if I ever want to try at being a musician, and don't like it, that they'll always have a job for me."

"That's always good." Tom admitted "I'm currently breezing by with my job; if I don't manage my task every day, I'll end up losing my job. I'm just barely making the deadline with Adobe Premiere 2.0"

"Well hang in there" Desmond sighed, mouth full of raman "If you delay gratification with hacking, you'll really be able to get things done."

"I know," Tom sighed also "Yet if I don't hack for a while, I start getting these weird feelings that something isn't right; that everything isn't what it seems. I start seeing green tinges in corners, and dream about complex computer codes. Hacking is so grounding that it makes all of that go away."

"Damn" Desmond admitted "I usually start seeing the same things if I don't hear some of my favorite songs, and play my guitar every once in a while. I never realized we were seeing the same things. I simply thought I was having a nervous breakdown. It was no surprise that I lost the bet between all of the staff when it came to going without our favorite music for a month; I started to go crazy."

"I hear that" Tom replied "However, I think you should head back to work. If you left at twelve, and arrived at twelve fifteen, you should probably leave right now to get back, it's twelve 45."

"Holy crap!" Desmond exclaimed "I lost track of time."

Still not finished with his lunch, he simply took the package and fork out the door with him, shutting it behind him.

All in all, one of the most eventful lunch breaks he'd ever had. He would only have to remember to pick up the champagne when he left. They were hosting guests.


	5. The Adobe Party

_**So, I just had one of the worst experiences I can imagine. Today, I was going through my alerts on what I signed up for when it came to author alerts. **_

_**I spotted a notification from Genius-626 that a new chapter had been posted. I follow the link, and read her latest work. I go to review, and found out she banned me. **_

_**I'm personally wondering what I did to her that got her to ban me. Though I'm not mad, only confused, I still am wondering what I did wrong.**_

_**However, please enjoy this new chapter of the fic. It should start to push things forward a little.**_

**Chapter 5: The Adobe Party**

**Desmond**

His shift for the day having ended at five, he said goodbye to his coworkers/second cousins, and left the store.

He remembered how Tom (Neo as he just found out) had told him to pick up some champagne. They were going to be hosting company; Tom/Neo's bosses from Adobe, and he must be wanting to impress.

As he was walking down the street, rather than take a left on Jefferson Street to cross, he instead took a right, then after crossing the street twice, arrived on Watershed Avenue, where he found Spirit's Spirits, the liquor store.

Stepping inside, he sighed. It sure would be hard to find some good champagne for a good price.

Desmond always carried at least $90 on his person; he figured it would be enough for something decent.

He went down the aisles until he came across the champagne. It wasn't long until he found a good variety, with a good, recent year, that he decided on.

The price; $65, was the best he could find; any cheaper and the quality would be less.

He took the bottle and made his way to the register. At the front was someone who he figured was either Pakistani or Kuwaiti, one of the Arabic countries.

"That will be Sixty-seven Twenty" the man replied.

Desmond pulled out his wallet and dispensed a fifty and a twenty dollar bill. He then handed them to the cashier.

"What's the occasion?" The cashier asked "Big sale at the store?"

"We're hosting a party" Desmond corrected.

The cashier dispensed the change and handed it to Desmond "Have fun at your party."

Desmond took the bag that the champagne was in, and exited the store.

"Thank you, come again" Played at the door as he exited.

With that, he retraced his steps to the intersection he left from, before returning home the usual way.

When he got to the apartment, he knocked, before entering.

"I got the champagne" Desmond announced "Hopefully we have ice to put it on."

"Just set it in the ice-bucket" Tom replied, motioning to a small glass container that was half-full of ice.

Desmond placed the bottle in perfectly, making sure it touched plenty of ice.

"So when will they get here?" Desmond asked "If all is well, I can probably make a few snacks."

"Already a step ahead of you" Tom/Neo explained, going into the pantry and pulling out several bags of Chex mix. "Just put all of these into a bowl and we'll be good to go."

"Where did you get those?" Desmond asked "They weren't here when I left."

"Got them while you were out" Neo explained "There's a corner-store a block and a half away from here."

"I'm going to practice my Guitar some" Desmond replied "Let me know when they get here. I think I can find some good party music."

Desmond went to his room, picked up his guitar from the stand, plugged it into the amp, and began to play a few chords.

Rather than go with something original, he decided to play a few bars of _Have A Cigar_ by Pink Floyd.

It was rather easy to get the guitar arrangements, yet for the intro, he just couldn't seem to get it right. It always came off either too high in pitch or too low.

He then heard a knock on the door. Before he knew it, it had become 6:30.

He unplugged and put away his musical instruments, before deciding upon The Police as backing music, grabbing a CD and taking it with him.

The two people from Adobe were already at the door, both wearing business suits, blue in variety, and identical, with the Adobe logo on one spot.

One of them was going bald, and was in the late stages, at the point where most of the hair on his head was gone, leaving only some light-brown hair around his ears and on the back of his neck. He looked to be about in his late 40's, early 50's.

The other one was much younger, and a stark contrast to the other. His hair was blonde, slicked down, long, and held in the back in a ponytail. He looked to be about their age, somewhere in the late 20's range.

"Well Tom," the younger one began "It's been a while hasn't it."

"Sure has" Tom sighed "Come in."  
>"Sure have improved the place" the older one commented "I see you now have a couch."<p>

"And who is this?" the younger one asked, noticing Desmond.

"he's my new roommate" Tom explained "Desmond, meet Dave," Tom obviously motioned to the younger one.

"Nice to meet you" Desmond replied, shaking Dave's hand.

"And what company do you work for?" Dave asked "Microsoft? Apple? Metacortex?"

"I work at Diamond Street Records." Desmond explained.  
>"Are they the people who publish Pink Floyd?" Dave asked.<p>

"No, that's Capitol Records here, EMI over in England" Desmond clarified "Diamond Street Records only sells music. We're a Record Store."

"I see" Dave sighed, scratching his goatee "Is there any chance that you were going to play that CD you have in your left hand?"

Desmond was confused, having forgotten the fact that he still had it.

"Why yes" he replied "I was."

"This place could use a bit of good music in here" the older man replied.  
>"right away" Desmond answered, smiling.<p>

He went to the stereo, and placed the CD in the player, closing the tray, and pressing **PLAY**.

As the reggae rhythms of The Police filled the room, Tom went on to introduce Desmond to the older man, who had the name of Jeff.

"Is there any way we can see the new software?" Dave asked "We've been dying to get another golden-egg from this goose."

"Sure thing." Tom replied, going to his computer and booting it up.

"So here it is" Tom announced, pulling up the window, showing the beta.

He then went on to explain to them all of the features, starting with the basic ones that were there, then going into all of the new features that he included, and finally showing all of the old ones he improved upon.

"This looks like it's going to be our new seller" Dave announced, clapping Tom on the shoulders.

Desmond had been in the back, listening in on the conversation, yet not really paying much attention; most of the things explained went completely over his head.

"How about we crack open the champagne?" Desmond announced "Celebrate the achievement?"

"That's what I'm talking about!" Jeff replied "Celebrate another moneymaker."

With that, Desmond uncorked the champagne, and proceeded to pour everyone a glass.

"I propose a toast" Dave announced "To Adobe, and it's moneymaker Tom. The goose that lays the golden egg."

"Cheers" Desmond seconded.

With that, and the chinking of glasses, everyone took a drink from their glass.

The night took some of the best moments, before Tom handed over the discs with all of the files on it, and the two corporate reps left into the night.

_**Further notes: **_

_**Hopefully this chapter wasn't too bad. I know they are a bit short, but they're mostly drabbles. **_

_**And on a further note; I personally wouldn't have found the inspiration to keep going with Desmond had it not been for Genius-626 and her much appreciated spoof involving my OC. To me, that gave me the strength to carry on, and finding out that I had been banned really shocked me. **_

_**I don't know what I did to warrant being banned; yet I'm very sorry for whatever it is. **_

_**Genius-626, if you are reading this, I apologize for any uncouth behavior, and wish you'd give me another chance.**_

_**And so I humbly dedicate this entire story to you; Genius-626.**_

_**Shine On You Crazy Diamond…**_


	6. Record Store Night

_**So, I'm back at this fic. I have to admit, working on things at the Downtown Orlando library has it's downsides (I.E. lack of wi-fi) All in all, as I am writing this, I am at the library. This will be posted at home. And with that, enjoy…**_

**Chapter 6: Record Store Night**

**Desmond**

"Hey Neo, I'm home" Desmond announced after he shut the door behind him, arriving home. Hard to believe that it had already been 3 weeks since he moved in with Tom, or "Neo" as he preferred to be called when it was just them. Neo was the man's hacker alias.

"So are we ordering Chinese Take-Out or Pizza?" Tom asked as he turned around in his swivel chair at the computer.

Desmond paused for a moment, wondering which he'd prefer. They had Pizza on Monday this week, and he didn't want to eat too much. However, Tom loved Chinese food, to the point where they always ordered not only enough for the night, but also enough to last until Saturday's lunchtime.

"I think we'll order Chinese" Desmond replied "I've been having a craving for dumplings all day"

"Szechwan Village or Green Dragon?" Tom asked.

"That's a tough one" Desmond admitted "Why don't you decide"

"Green Dragon it is then" Tom replied, motioning to the take-out menu that he'd removed from the door during the afternoon.

"So let's see here" Desmond replied, looking over the menu. The menu was listed

**Appetizers**

**Steamed or Fried Dumplings: $3.10/5 $6.05/10**

**Eggrollls: $4.25/4**

**Wonton Soup: $3.35/pt $5.75/qt**

"So we can get 10 Dumplings for 6 bucks" Desmond replied "Which is a better deal than 5 for 3 bucks"

"I'm game for that" Neo replied.

"Moo Shoo Pork," Desmond noted "I can get a quart of that"

"I think the shrimp fried rice sounds good to me" Neo replied.

"If I get a large order of Chow Mein will you have some?" Desmond asked, noting the new rate on the soupy dish. The last time they'd gotten an order of Chow Mein for both of them, Neo never touched his, and Desmond had to finish all of it. He was beginning to wonder if Tom's statement that he liked Chow Mein was true.

"I'll have some this time" Tom replied.

"So we'll go halves on that…" Desmond replied, looking down. He spotted something new; Sweet And Sour Combo. Half order of rice, with pork _and_ chicken along with it to have with the sauce.

"I'll have the Sweet And Sour Combo" Desmond replied.

"I think Beef Lo Mein sounds good this time" Neo admitted "I think I'll get a large order of that."

"I think I'll get a medium order of that as well" Desmond replied.

Crunching the prices of his purchases into a calculator that was right next to the menu, it already came out to $16.02 when he factored in Sales Tax.

Neo's came to about 17.10 when he decided he also wanted Chicken Fried Rice. Half of what he ordered was rice, since the Moo Shoo Pork that he selected came with a side of steamed rice. Desmond only got a tiny bit of rice with his order. It really showed who had what for their tastes.

For the shared orders of the Dumplings and the Chow Mein, they would each only have to put in about 6 dollars (Chow Mein was cheap, only 3.02 for a large order) and it was Desmond's turn to order.

He dialed the number for the restaurant, and after they finally picked up, he listed off the items that they would order.

"Alright, that is fourty-five dollar twenty-one cents" The man on the other end replied "Plus tip"

"Alright" Desmond replied "We're at 204 Remington Drive, Apartment 6A"

"Your order will be there in twenty minute" the man replied "Thank you for your business"

With that, the man hung up rather abruptly.

"How long will we be waiting now?" Tom asked.

"Twenty minutes" Desmond replied, taking out his wallet and withdrawing $25 in cash "Your turn to answer the door this time. Here's my half of the bill"

He set the cash on the table and went into his room. "I'm gonna get some practice time in if you don't mind"

"I actually saw something on TV today that I recorded" Neo interjected "I thought you might like it."

"What is it?" Desmond asked, comically poking his head out of his room's door.

"It's an interview with Pink Floyd on the show Good Morning America. They also did a small concert on the show as well" Neo explained "I taped the whole thing. I saw them announce it and I put a tape in and recorded it for you"

"Thanks" Desmond replied, smile on his face, eyes lit up bright. He had a soft spot for Pink Floyd as a group.

Neo simply hit rewind for a few moments, and then pressed play. On came Good Morning America, about halfway through the show. At the first moment of the tape being played, we saw the abrupt end of a commercial on Women's Razors.

"So here we have the three remaining members of the band Pink Floyd here…" the hostess announced.

The interview appeared to be a promotion of The Division Bell album that just came out. Most of the interview was David Gilmour and Rick Wright talking about their songwriting techniques, and Nick Mason only spoke to say "Right" and such.

However, from what Desmond saw, it seemed that the three members of the band were a little cold and still compared to what he'd heard of them. It was like they were just existing. Their opinions sounded completely rehearsed and forced. Hardly any bit of natural flow to how they talked. Almost mechanical it was.

And when it came to the short concert, it was only Keep Talking that they played. Even then, compared to the album, it was rather lackluster since they couldn't get backup singers that were supposed to be there.

Right as the taped segment ended, the doorbell rang. Desmond turned off the VCR and started flipping through the channels.

"I left my end on the counter" Desmond explained, as Neo walked back to pick up the cash he'd left out.

He then opened up the door.

Desmond found the usual thing that they watched on Thursday. It was _Three's Company_. It was one of the shows that somehow, they could both agree on, considering how they had cable and everything.

"Thank you" Neo said to the deliveryboy as he closed the door.

"Now time to sort out dinner" Desmond replied, going through the bag of food, and setting everything in three areas on the coffeetable. On the left was Neo's dinner, on the right was Desmond's, and in the center went the dumplings. Thankfully Green Dragon labeled all of the food containers with what was being served.

Desmond took apart the disposable chopsticks, and began to tuck into his Beef Lo Mein.

"So how are we going to divide the dumplings?" Tom asked.

"We each get five" Desmond replied, mouth full of food. "Just like every time there's an even number."

Tom immediately took a spork and began to tuck into the Chow Mein. Almost immediately, Desmond noted how much he was really going through the Chow Mein.

Desmond had finished his Beef Lo Mein when Tom had begun to eat his share of the Chow Mein. It was like the man was making up for lost time with the dish.

"I'll let you have my half of the Dumplings if you let me have the rest of the Chow Mein." Tom reasoned, pausing from the food.

"Alright" Desmond replied, taking the dumpling sauce container, removing the lid, and then removing the lid to the dumpling container. All ten were there, and all his.

He immediately took the chopsticks and began to go through them. The dumplings were the most tender and salty food he'd had in a while, and he was in Seventh Heaven at this point, having satisfied a craving in only ten dumplings.

And at the end of that, he was still hungry. He then went through to the Sweet And Sour Combo, and began to start on that. He did that by taking the empty container for the Beef Lo Mein, which was enough to hold the contents of the two containers with the Pork/Chicken and the rice together, and dumped the latter 2 contents into the Beef Lo Mein container. This left a small bit of room up at the top of the container, barely a half inch. He then took the Sweet & Sour sauce and dumped it in with the rice, chicken, and pork, and closed the lid on that.

He then proceeded to shake them both up to mix it all thoroughly. After about 3 minutes of shaking, it was all mixed together.

Desmond then took the chopsticks and began to dig in on his mixed up dish.

Tom was currently about halfway through the Chicken-Fried Rice, and was showing no signs of stopping.

Both were ignoring the blatant Girl-On-Girl action going on in the show that Desmond had put on. Not that it mattered to the two men, who seemed to be on their way to finishing their order of Chinese for the first time.

**20 Minutes Later**

Full and Satisfied were the two men. They had what was the best dinner yet since their begun cohabitation.

"So what now?" Desmond asked, noting how it was only 7:00 at night. He still had quite a bit he wanted to do. He felt like going out for the night with Neo, but the guy preferred to stay at home all of the time.

"So what's it like at the Record Store?" Neo asked, shutting off the TV.

"Well," Desmond replied "Why don't I show you."

"Are you suggesting that we go to where you work?" Tom inquired.

"Well, yeah" Desmond answered "We need to get out of the house every now and then anyways."

"Sure beats your suggestion to go to a bar and pick up women on Ladies Night like last week" Tom replied, sitting up, grabbing his coat and walking out the door.

Desmond was stupefied, unable to comprehend that he had just gotten Neo outside of the apartment.

"Oh, we're really doing this" he stated, getting up, grabbing his things from the bowl, and walking out the door.

Rushing down the stairs, he found Tom in the lobby to the building.

"So if you'll follow me" Desmond replied, taking him down Remington Drive, crossing Jefferson Street, going across the Adams Street Bridge, and crossing Jersey Boulevard, he finally came across Diamond Street Records.

The store was still it's ordinary self, and it seemed that the evening shift people were inside.

"Come on, I'll show you around" Desmond replied, leading Neo through the door.

"So where are do you keep the Rush albums?" Tom asked.

"You're a Rush fan?" Desmond replied "That's interesting. They're stored in the Rock section. Now do you want them on CD, cassette, or Vinyl?"

"Cassette" Tom replied.

"Third aisle to the left" Desmond explained, walking the man over to the cassettes.

"Thank you" Tom sighed, going through and looking through the tapes.

Desmond went to the section labeled **Dire Straits** in the **Rock CDs** area.

He went through about 20 copies of the **Sultans Of Swing** **EP** CDs, before coming across **Brothers In Arms** on the CD copy, the entire album.

He'd sold about ten copies of that album on CD right after it had just arrived today. He was amazed that there was even a copy left at this point. He looked around, and took the CD off the rack. He was amazed at how there was one left.

Neo walked up to him with about 3 different Rush albums, their first 3 to be precise. He was amazed at how Tom was a Rush fan.

"So do you know where The Vines are kept?" Tom asked.

"Right at the end of the aisle where you were" Desmond replied.

"Thanks" Tom replied.

Desmond then took a look at the Styx section. There, in the divider, right behind the label, was **Styx Greatest Hits**. He remembered how it had sold out three times when it came out in '95. There was a line that circled around the block in front of the store when it was released. Desmond had been unable to get a copy for himself then, and since, the store hadn't ordered another shipment, since A&M raised the price of the same CD later on.

"Since when has Styx Greatest Hits been in?" he asked Joan, who was walking past.

"We just got some in yesterday" she replied, before blowing a bubble with her gum.

"Alright, thanks" Desmond quipped.

At this point, he had wanted to hear _Lady '95_ for at least 4 years. He could finally get some satisfaction with that.

"I'm ready to check everything out" Tom replied, tapping on Desmond's shoulder, and startling him.

"Alright" he gasped, picking up his CDs and walking up to the counter.

Joan was just flipping over her Boz Scaggs tape when they got to the counter.

"Who's your friend Des?" Joan asked, in between smacking on gum.

"This is Tom" Desmond replied, motioning to his roommate "Tom, this is my second cousin Joan"

"Nice to meet you" Tom replied, offering his hand.  
>Joan shook, and relieved him of his tapes, ringing them up.<p>

"That'll be $11.50" she replied.

Tom fished out his wallet and gave her a twenty, that being the smallest bill he had.

"You rob a bank or something?" Joan asked, noting the contents of his wallet were large denomination bills.

"Just got paid" he replied.

"He works for Adobe" Desmond explained "Big computer company."

"Makes sense" Joan reasoned, giving him change in $1 bills and quarters "Here's some money for vending machines" she joked.

"Thank you" Tom replied.  
>Desmond gave Joan the CDs and she rang them up. It came to $14 exactly. "So what's the deal with your friend?" Joan asked "is he seeing anyone?"<p>

"Not that I know of" Desmond replied "You want to ask him out or something?"

"Well" she replied, taking Tom's receipt that he forgot, and scrawling something on the back "he's welcome to call me if he wants, since he forgot his receipt anyways."

"Alright" Desmond replied, "I'll make sure he gets your number."

"Thanks" she replied "I'll talk to Jim and see that you get a bonus if he calls me"

"I'll make sure he does" Desmond replied, taking his bagged CDs and walking out the door, following Tom.

"That was fun" Tom admitted, noting that they killed a full hour there "I'm glad we did that. When do you think we can do that again?"

"I'm thinking that we use every Thursday night for Record Store Night." Desmond reasoned "that way we can have a bit of order to it, and you get out of the house some." He paused "you also forgot your receipt."

"Thanks" Tom replied, taking the slip of paper from Desmond. He then looked on the back. "What's this?" he flipped over to reveal the ten digit number in pink ink.

"That's my cousin Joan's phone number" Desmond explained "She asked me if you were seeing anyone, and when I told her you weren't, she wrote her number down for you to call her."

"That's weird" Tom noted, pressing for the signal to cross.  
>"She said I'd get a bonus if you did" Desmond noted "She's lonely and bored; you'd be doing her a favor"<p>

"Alright" Tom replied "I'll call her this weekend."


End file.
